This is what "Defund the Police" means in practice and hopefully this could lead to meaningful and positive changes. I recently witnessed an encounter in NYC involving paramedics and police interrogating an individual who did not want medical care, and any involvement with police. The paramedic was definitely using deescalation skills that I would usually equate with police work, as the police took a stand back and see attitude. I didn't see the outcome, but it seemed there was no one size fits all solution for this particular situation and the skills needed by both professions had a large overlap.
The problem seems to be about eroding trust in the police relationship with communities. The solution being proposed is creating new trust relationship with another public organization. Either way we need trust with every public organization/community interaction in the end and moves like this, if successful, are still just solving half the problem.